Kagen no Tsuki
by tkhm
Summary: Tenten was not getting better, and her dream of becoming a legendary ninja was slipping away, but when she met a mysterious girl in the forest, she was offered a deal to learn new techniques. Was this her chance to finally catch up to her teammates?
1. Tohya Satsuki

Kagen no Tsuki  
  
Naruto  
  
By TKHM  
  
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi. But this fanfiction is my work and no one can cut/edit this work, although I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Oh, Tohya Satsuki is my original character.  
  
Chapter one - Tohya Satsuki  
  
---------------  
  
Kunais. Check.  
  
Shurikens. Check.  
  
Exploding Notes. Check.  
  
Anbu mask. Check.  
  
"Looks like I got everything." Tohya Satsuki said to herself while putting on her Anbu mask. The young woman had long light blue hair tied into a ponytail, and her pale skin contrasted strongly against her black suit. One immediate difference between her appearance and the appearances of rest of the Anbu members was her black cloak with a crescent moon on the back replacing the usual Anbu jacket. The other was her blood red eyes.  
  
Satsuki walked out of her house and looked up, allowing herself a few seconds to stare at the full moon which seemed oblivious to the commotion beneath it. This mission seemed to be a lot more difficult then her recent ones, easily being an A-level mission or even higher. It was not everyday that Orochimaru, who deserted his own village not long ago, was discovered snooping around the Konoha Village. As a result, several Anbu squads were ordered to assassinate the dangerous S-rank criminal.  
  
"One of the legendary three ninjas...." Satsuki whispered softly to herself before becoming a blur and leaping into the darkness.  
  
---------------  
  
It was surprisingly easy to find Orochimaru, even after considering Satsuki's abnormal ability to locate her targets. It was too easy, and Satsuki quickly observed her surroundings for traps. What was Orochimaru doing in a forest right next to the Konoha Village? And why was he satisfied with standing in the open like this, when he should be escaping from other Anbu members?  
  
'He was hoping for someone to find him.' Satsuki concluded, but nothing looked suspicious in the surrounding area. Also there were no sign of battle or other Anbu members. Satsuki frowned. Orochimaru was smart and very sneaky, and falling into one of his traps would be dangerous, even for her. But she would not be able to accomplish anything if she stayed hidden like this. 'Looks like I have to make my presence known.'   
  
She held her right hand in front and focused and a small sphere of dim red light was formed in the middle of her palm. She closed her hand quickly, and the sphere was squeezed into the shape of a short blade. It was a normal ninja short sword, except for the small image of a crescent moon that was carved into the handle of the blade.  
  
Satsuki leapt down from the tree which kept her hidden from view, and almost immediately three kunais flew towards where she landed. Instead of attempting to dodge the projectiles though, the assassin completely ignored the threat and ran in a straight line towards her target. Satsuki became a blur just as the kunais were about to bury themselves into her body, and in an instant she was right in front of Orochimaru. She tightened her grip on her weapon, and the blade was outlined by a thin layer of red chakra.  
  
A flash of light appeared, and Orochimaru was cleanly dissected into two pieces from head to toe.  
  
At least, that was what Satsuki thought before the 'corpse' collapsed into two even piles of mud. Reacting quickly, Satsuki quickly leapt away from her position, not giving her enemy the opportunity to strike because of her mistake. Instead of a follow up attack, she heard someone clapping somewhere above her. She looked up, and saw Orochimaru standing on top of a tree, with the moon in the background giving him a menacing appearance.  
  
"Excellent jutsu! As I've expected from the best Konoha assassin in this generation." Orochimaru said while grinning in a condescending way. "But can you defeat me with that?"  
  
"Why don't you give it a try?" Satsuki answered coolly. "Nothing has ever survived my blade."  
  
Orochimaru did not answer her challenge, instead he chuckled slightly and continued to address the assassin calmly while shaking his head, as if speaking to a child.  
  
"Why do you continue to fight for the Konoha village?" Orochimaru asked. Then he continued. "Because of the nature of your power, most of the villagers fear and shun you, and the ones that are not afraid prepare to kill you the moment you show the slightest sign of threatening the village. Besides, we are quite alike, since both of us sacrificed part of our humanity for power."  
  
"I will never turn against my village." Satsuki said firmly, her eyes never taken off Orochimaru's form. "I am not a traitor like you."  
  
"Even if no one in this village wants you? I can offer you a position as one of my soldiers. You certainly qualify to be one."  
  
"Someone needs my ability in this village, and I will always help him until he no longer wants me around." Satsuki's eyes softened a bit when she said that, and it was not lost to Orochimaru.  
  
"Foolish girl." Orochimaru chuckled again before making a little cut on his thumb and drawing a line of blood on his left forearm. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"  
  
Three giant snakes appeared in a puff of smoke, and immediately rushed for Satsuki, intending to devour the girl. Satsuki raised her blade, and leapt up to meet the snakes. There were three flashes one right after the other, and each snake was decapitated. Satsuki turned her head after her attacks, and saw Orochimaru escaping in the opposite direction. And the moment the assassin landed from her attack, Orochimaru had disappeared from her sight.  
  
"No!" Satsuki yelled in frustration. She pulled out a stack of exploding notes, impaled every piece onto a kunai, and threw them to where she thought Orochimaru was escaping. The tactic worked. When the notes blew up, they provided just enough light for Satsuki to locate a moving shape that resembled Orochimaru.  
  
"You can't get away, Orochimaru!" Satsuki then pulled out several shurikens and threw them into the the area where she last saw Orochimaru, while leaping off a branch to continue her pursuit at the same time. She doubted that the shurikens would hit her target, but she had to try.  
  
'Did I get him?' Satsuki thought to herself as she approached the area where her attack had hit. She frowned when she looked at the scene. There was a shuriken embedded into a tree, a shuriken that hit an unlucky rabbit, and several shurikens scattered on the ground, but there was no sign that Orochimaru had been hit by her attack.  
  
"He escaped." Satsuki muttered disappointedly. She had to start all over again to find Orochimaru.   
  
Then something caught Satsuki's eye, the object of interest looked like a symbol crafted onto the tree trunk. Walking closer to said trunk, she started to inspect the symbol with only the moon as her source of light.  
  
'I have to get out of here right now!' Satsuki thought to herself in panic after realizing the meaning of the symbol. She became a blur just before as the area around her exploded in a fine display of fire and light. A pillar of flame shot out from the ground, and engulfed the nearby trees instantly.  
  
The attack lasted a good twenty seconds before dying down. When the smoke and ash cleared, Satsuki was revealed standing right outside the parameter of destruction, looking more than a little shaken from the encounter.  
  
'That was close. If I had not reacted in time...' The assassin sighed, and turned around from the devastation while shaking her head, only to find a small snake, not even a meter long, staring at her under a tree. Satsuki recognized the snake as one of Orochimaru's minions, and was about to strike it down when the snake started crawling slowly towards one direction.  
  
'It is leading me toward him.' Satsuki thought. 'This is definitely a trap.' It did not mean she could back away though. A mission was a mission after all. Having no other choice, she followed the snake.  
  
The snake led her in front of an abandoned concrete building, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Knowing that Orochimaru could be hiding somewhere, Satsuki approached the building slowly. Again, there were no signs of fighting in the area. What happened to the other Anbu members?  
  
'It doesn't matter. I always work alone anyway.' Satsuki turned the knob of the front door, and muttered a quick prayer.  
  
Finding the Fourth Hokage lying unconscious on the ground with his back toward her was not what she had anticipated. Emotions long bottled up were let out in an instant like a waterfall, and Satsuki seemed to have forgotten every shinobi rule at this moment.  
  
"Hokage-sama!" Satsuki screamed, before running toward the fallen form. She reached for him, and turned him over to see if he was all right. A sharp pain exploded on her right shoulder, and in her agitated state she did not even realize that a kunai had been embedded into her shoulder. The pain, however, cleared Satsuki's mind enough for her to realize that the figure in front of her was not the Fourth Hokage, but a tied-up young boy dressed in the Hokage's clothes. As soon as the assassin realized her mistake, hundreds of needles shot out from every possible place and angle around her. There was no escape route, but Satsuki would make one herself. Reacting to the situation quickly, Satsuki prepared to use her evasion technique and her body form blurred. At this moment she noticed the boy's eyes widening in fear.  
  
'The boy! He will be killed if I dodge the needles!' Satsuki realized as she let her form solidify again the moment the needles reached the two. Then she exploded into action.  
  
The entire room seemed to be lit up as flash after flash appeared consecutively in an instant, each cutting or deflecting the needles. After exactly forty nine strikes, Satsuki stopped to catch her breath, and started berating herself for falling for such a trap. She did not notice the boy gasping at the display of power.  
  
"It hurts...." Gasping suddenly in pain, Satsuki closed her hand on her shoulder wound. Using her previous move had worsened her wound, and strained her already exhausted body. After preparing herself, she gritted her teeth and forcefully pulled the weapon out. She almost fainted from the sharp pain, but collected herself enough to tear a piece of her clothes to bandage her wound.  
  
After she was finished, she checked the stunned boy for injuries. Finding none except for the big bruise on the side of the boy's head, Satsuki let out a sigh of relief. The needles did not get the boy. She untied the boy, just as the boy overcame his shock of almost getting killed.  
  
"You....saved me" The boy stuttered. "Thank you."  
  
Before Satsuki could reply, she heard an explosion from the other room of the building. And she was suddenly left with a dilemma.  
  
'Should I check the explosion out, or should I stay with the boy to protect him?' Making up her mind, and hating herself for her decision she ran toward the second door in the room which went further inside the building.  
  
"Stay here!" Satsuki told the boy, before opening the door. She immediately saw Orochimaru jumping toward her from less than ten feet away with his hand charged with a ball of chakra roughly the size of a watermelon. Surprised, but not intimidated, Satsuki answered the attack with her own attack. She charged her blade with the red chakra, and raised her weapon, completely prepared to send the missing-nin to hell with the next strike.  
  
"Rasengan!" Orochimaru yelled out his move's name.  
  
'What? Impossible! Only Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama know this move!' Satsuki thought, as Orochimaru's attack seemed to approach her in slow motion. Then she widened her eyes in realization. 'Genjutsu?!?'  
  
The moment Satsuki realized that she had been deceived, the image of Orochimaru was suddenly replaced with the one of the Fourth Hokage. 'No!' She pulled back her attack forcefully, and inevitably lost her control of her jutsu. The loss of chakra balance was not only painful, but also prevented her from dodging out of the way of the Fourth's attack. The Hokage's eyes were filled with determination as the ninja drove his ball of destructive energy right into Satsuki's rib cage. As Satsuki flew back from the impact, a look of surprise and betrayal crossed her face.  
  
'Why?' It was Satsuki's last thought before the effect of the Rasengan consumed her.  
  
Pain. Extreme pain. There was nothing but pain. For Satsuki, her entire torso seemed to have been twisted, crushed and flipped inside out at the same time. The fearful force of the Fourth's Rasengan blew the girl back into the first room, through the outer concrete wall, and onto the ground outside the building. Her Anbu mask shattered into a thousand pieces. Satsuki could faintly hear the boy's scream as her back gave a sickening crack against the concrete, then her world dimmed and turned completely black.  
  
---------------  
  
When Satsuki opened her eyes again, the first thing that she saw was the grim face of the Fourth Hokage. 'Why is he here? Is he here to finish me off?' Satsuki thought sadly. Then another thought came to her. 'What if he was tricked by Orochimaru's genjutsu too? That's it! There's no way he would treat me like this on purpose, since he was the only one in this village who showed me real kindness after that incident.' She hoped, but then another thought crossed her mind.  
  
'Perhaps Hokage-sama has determined that I am too much of a threat to the village, and it is in the best interest of Konoha to get rid of me after all?' Satsuki's eyes dimmed at the thought. Her red eyes slowly changed color. The color changed into purple, before finally settling into blue. The Hokage looked alarmed at the change, but did not say anything.  
  
"Hokage-sama...." Satsuki whispered out, not having enough energy to make her voice louder. The Fourth quickly leaned over with his right ear close to her lips to listen. Satsuki blushed slightly at this, but continued: "Are you here to bury me, since I am too dangerous?" As she spoke, she tried to lift her head slightly toward his face. If she was going to die in his hands, at least she wanted to steal a farewell kiss. He was the one...the only one who stopped her from killing herself after that fateful day, and the only one who did not look at her in fear or contempt.  
  
However, the Fourth pulled back his body in shock right before her lips could make contact, making her effort wasted.  
  
"No!" The Fourth Hokage replied strongly. "It's not like that at all." Looking straight into Satsuki's eyes, he began to explain what had happened.  
  
---------------  
  
The Fourth Hokage was getting impatient. He and his Anbu group had been searching for Orochimaru for hours in this forest. It really did not help that the visibility was especially low inside this thick forest at night, and illuminating the area was suicidal because it would be equivalent to announcing their exact location to Orochimaru. But the most upsetting detail was not the lack of visibility or his failure in locating the missing-nin, but it was Orochimaru's various subtle hints that the group picked up. It was obvious that Orochimaru was taunting them and forcing them to run in circles the whole time. And unfortunately, the Fourth could not ignore the clues, even if they were left behind on purpose.  
  
It was a trap, and the group was forced to walk right into it. It did not help that, as a leader of the group, he was ultimately responsible for all their lives. The Third refused to participate in this mission, saying that he would become a liability, since he could not bring himself to slay his former student. To make matters worse, Jiraiya-sensei was nowhere to be found.  
  
'Calm down.' The Fourth mentally scolded himself. 'A ninja should not let his emotions interfere with the mission.'  
  
The Fourth's head snapped suddenly to the right when he felt a presence. "Look out!" He pointed to a figure cloaked in shadow behind a tree. His warning came too late, however, and one of the Anbu members was stabbed in the waist. The group responded to the attack immediately. Three Anbu members quickly leapt to their wounded comrade, and the other seven formed a defensive position around their leader.  
  
Silence greeted the group.  
  
The seven Anbu ninjas around the Fourth looked at their leader for further commands, and saw the Fourth shaking his head. They were not allowed to split from the group and chase the attacker. The Fourth walked to the wounded Anbu member, and was relieved that the wound, while serious, was not fatal. The wound needed to be treated soon though, which meant the wounded assassin was out of the chase.  
  
The Fourth frowned when he realized how bad his situation had really gotten. They were in the middle of a forest. One ninja had been injured and required immediate medical attention. The wounded needed to be carried back to the village. And Sending only one or even two ninjas for the job would be too dangerous if there were an ambush, so he had to send three of them to carry the wounded, which meant his team of twelve suddenly lost four of its members for this mission. After sending the three back to the village, the Fourth and the remaining Anbu ninjas continued on their chase of Orochimaru along the trail where the shadowy figure disappeared.  
  
It was almost fifteen minutes later when the Hokage was forced to make another difficult decision. Orochimaru decided to leave two hints, and those two clues happened to be pointing in opposite directions. The Fourth forced down the urge to punch a hole through the tree, and gave his signal to the remaining Anbu members. The seven ninjas seemed surprised at the command, but followed it nevertheless.  
  
The seven Anbu ninjas would go one way, and the Fourth would go the other way, alone. It was the most obvious choice. Orochimaru was one of the legendary three ninjas, and a student of the Third. The Fourth could only hope that seven Anbu members were enough. Even though they were carefully chosen for this mission, they might not survive a fight against the missing-nin. He, on the other hand, had a good chance of surviving this mission alone even if he fought Orochimaru.  
  
The first thing he wanted to do was to wipe the annoying smirk off Orochimaru's face.  
  
It was another ten minutes or so when he reached the back side of a concrete building. And almost immediately the Fourth got his wish fulfilled. Orochimaru leapt down from a tree with a sword in his hand. The attack completely missed when the Fourth dodged to the side, and used the opportunity to kick the missing-nin on the side of his head. If Orochimaru wanted to have a one-on-one match with him, it was completely fine. The missing-nin, after all, was probably trying to prove that he was the superior candidate for the Hokage title. Not missing an opportunity, the Fourth quickly charged up his Rasengan for a final strike. However, he had his chance of completing the mission stolen again when Orochimaru ducked inside the concrete building like a cockroach.  
  
The Fourth's last bit of patience evaporated at that sight.  
  
The Fourth was normally an intelligent man. He was regarded as the village's finest ninja in history, and he would normally tackle his problem with a clear analytical mind. But the Fourth was still a young man underneath the cover of a genius. He had been repeatedly frustrated, led around like a toy, forced to witness a companion getting seriously wounded, and robbed of the chance to vent his frustration on Orochimaru with a Rasengan.  
  
And most importantly, the Fourth felt the need to prove that he could succeed in the title of Hokage, and Orochimaru was making a joke out of his first important mission since the Fourth became Hokage.  
  
Not bothering to power down his Rasengan, the Fourth entered the building through the back door with the subtlety of a raging bull, and continued down a long hallway with determination.  
  
The door at the end of the hallway began to open, and the Fourth prepared himself.  
  
The door was opened enough for a kunai bag to be shown. The Fourth continued dashing.  
  
The door was opened halfway, and the smirking face of Orochimaru appeared. The Fourth made his move.  
  
Jumping towards the missing-nin, the Fourth cried out his move's name while driving the spinning ball of death towards the chest of his target.  
  
"Rasengan!"   
  
The walls on the two sides of the impact were replaced by two big holes. The door was broken out of its hinges when Orochimaru's body flew past it. And finally, to the Fourth's satisfaction, Orochimaru created a large whole against the concrete outer wall when he exited the building in a rather painful manner.  
  
'The Rasengan should have at least seriously injured Orochimaru.' The Fourth thought as he exited the building through the newly made hole.  
  
It was not Orochimaru who was lying broken on the ground. Instead it was Tohya Satsuki, an Anbu assassin assigned separately on this mission. A thin line of blood could be seen flowing out from the corner of her mouth, and the Fourth was not too confident that she had survived the attack. As Hokage, the Fourth was the pillar of the village, and he was responsible for protecting all the villagers. Yet he had critically hurt, if not killed one of his ninjas outright.  
  
The Fourth was so shocked at the sight that his mind became a complete blank for a moment, before he was snapped out of his daze by a scream. Looking back, the Fourth could see a young boy sitting in the previous room. The boy was screaming at the top of his lungs.  
  
The Fourth felt like screaming himself.  
  
---------------  
  
"So that was what had happened." The Fourth said. Wiping the trail of blood from Satsuki's mouth. "You need medical attention right now, I will carry you back to the village." After the Fourth said that, he attempted to lift Satsuki's torso off the ground. Satsuki cried out in pain and the Fourth immediately stopped.  
  
"My...waist..." Satsuki gasped out. "It hurts when you try to move me."  
  
The Fourth pulled his hand from her waist, and saw that it was covered with blood. Then he noticed that the ground under her had a puddle of blood that was gradually growing in size. There was a large gash across the right side of Satsuki's waist, and blood was flowing out too quickly for the Fourth's liking.  
  
"Your waist is cut by debris." The Fourth said to Satsuki. "I will stop the bleeding."  
  
After he spoke, he tore off part of his right sleeve, put the piece of cloth on top of the wound, and applied pressure. Satsuki winced in pain, but said nothing. The idea was not working, however, as the method could only slow down the bleeding, but failed miserably in stopping it.  
  
Satsuki was staring at the Fourth's face while he was trying his best to stop the bleeding. She knew she was bleeding slowly to death, because she could feel her life flowing out of her body. And she knew, even if her life was saved, she would be crippled for life because of her broken back. But her brain seemed to push all these thoughts into the back of her mind, as the focus went onto the Fourth's face.  
  
She was strangely mesmerized by the concerned expression on the Fourth's face.  
  
"Why are you so concerned about me?" Satsuki asked suddenly in a soft voice. The Fourth stopped what he was doing and looked at her. Satsuki continued. "You should be chasing after Orochimaru right now, instead of taking care of me."  
  
"I would not let you die." The Fourth answered simply.  
  
"Why? I am no longer fully human....and...." Satsuki's voice dropped to a whisper again at this point. "It is not worth it to fail a mission for someone like me...."  
  
"You are human. Stop telling yourself that you are not. You look like a normal, human girl to me." The Fourth emphasized his point by looking at her from head to toe and then nodding his head.  
  
Satsuki blushed. The Fourth, realizing how inappropriate that action seemed, blushed as well.  
  
"Do you...." Satsuki whispered out. The Fourth bent over to hear her more clearly again. '...have any feelings for me?' She finished in her mind. "....know where Orochimaru went?" Different words came out.  
  
"No, but I will worry about that later. I can't stop the bleeding. I am going back to the village to get a doctor." The Fourth turned around, and found the boy Satsuki rescued standing behind the two of them. The boy probably had been there the whole time. The Fourth picked up the piece of blood-soaked cloth, and addressed the boy. "Please help me put pressure on the wound with this while I go get help."  
  
The boy nodded quietly and picked up the piece of cloth from the Hokage. Then he used it to slow down the bleeding. The Hokage, seeing the boy was doing the job right, nodded once and stood up.  
  
The Fourth smiled at Satsuki. "I am concerned about you because you are an important subordinate to me." With that, he turned and left the scene in a hurry.  
  
He never saw the sad expression on Satsuki's face as her eyes dimmed even further at those words.  
  
After the Fourth left, Satsuki turned towards the boy who was applying pressure on her wound with a determined look on his face. "Would you get something from my kunai bag for me?"  
  
"Don't worry! I will stop the bleeding, you just relax and....huh?" The boy asked, puzzled. "What did you want me to do again?"  
  
Satsuki opened her mouth to speak again, but an intense feeling of pain sudden exploded from her chest. She felt something warm from her throat flowing out of her mouth. It tasted like blood. Blood was flowing from her mouth again. 'I am not going to survive this.' Satsuki thought to herself.  
  
The boy, failing to receive the message earlier, leaned closer to the girl until his left ear was almost touching Satsuki's mouth. "What did you say again?"  
  
A feeling of panic overwhelmed Satsuki like a tidal wave at that moment. Perhaps it was human instinct, but all of a sudden, Satsuki could think about only one thing. 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die. Save me! I am too young to die.' Her eyes widened and her lips trembled in the fear of death.  
  
Then Satsuki noticed that the boy's neck was dangerously close to her mouth.  
  
Thump-thump.  
  
Was this her last chance of survival?  
  
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.  
  
If she sacrificed this boy, she would have enough chakra to recover herself with that forbidden jutsu.  
  
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.  
  
'I am sorry.' Satsuki thought as she opened her mouth, preparing to use her last bit of strength to bite into the boy's neck. 'Forgive me.' Her eyes changed from blue to red at that instant. It was a wonder that the boy did not notice the thick killer-intent saturating the air.  
  
'We are quite alike, since both of us sacrificed part of our humanity for power.' Orochimaru's words suddenly echoed in Satsuki's mind.  
  
'You are human. Stop telling yourself that you are not. You look like a normal, human girl to me.' The Fourth's words came next.  
  
'Thank you, Hokage-sama.' Satsuki thought to herself as she stopped herself from committing a horrible crime, her eyes turning back into blue. Killing the boy to save her own life would mean betraying the only man that had ever cared for her, the only man that she had ever loved. He would hate her for eternity, cursing her name like spitting out venom from his mouth.  
  
Tohya Satsuki would have none of that.  
  
Seeing that the boy was still trying to hear her next message, Satsuki spoke. "Would you please get me the scroll from my kunai pouch?"  
  
The boy immediately fulfilled her wish and put the scroll into Satsuki's right hand. Satsuki felt the scroll inside her hand, and start to perform a seal that she had invented recently. Some of her blood from the wound rose up from the ground and formed a bind around the scroll. She had not tested this seal before. Everything was based on her theory.  
  
"Fuuin." Satsuki whispered as she finished her work. A flash of blue light appeared on the scroll, and the blood became symbols surrounding the scroll. The scroll was successfully sealed.  
  
Seals that involving the soul was extremely difficult to perform. Her chance of success was near nil, but it was worth a try because success might let her survive. Satsuki did not even have time to dwell on her chance of success before she felt a familiar presence nearby.  
  
It was Orochimaru.  
  
"Run." Satsuki forced her voice to work, despite her injuries. "Run. Hide that scroll." Satsuki told the boy.  
  
For a moment Satsuki was afraid that the boy would not comprehend the reason for him to get away, but fortunately the boy obeyed her and quickly ran off with the scroll in his hand.  
  
"So what do we have here?" Orochimaru voice asked tauntingly. "Should I go after the boy, or should I kill you first?"  
  
Satsuki tensed. Orochimaru had seen the boy running away. She thought about the current situation. The boy was carrying the scroll which could not fall into Orochimaru's hands, especially after she had completed that seal. Feeling her blood flowing freely from her wound, Satsuki poured her chakra into her last desperate attack.  
  
Taunting the dying assassin in front of him, Orochimaru never saw Satsuki's blood from her wound flowing behind him. Her blood ascended from the ground, and took shapes of needles. Satsuki could only make a dozen needles in her condition, but she threw them immediately at Orochimaru.  
  
Of the twelve blood needles, only two hit the target. One embedded itself into the back of Orochimaru's left shoulder, while the other buried itself in the back of Orochimaru's neck. Both had missed the crucial points, however, as Orochimaru only seemed to be slightly wounded. Knowing that her surprise attack had failed, Satsuki sighed. The blood needles turned back into blood as Satsuki lost the last bit of her strength.  
  
"I will kill you first." Orochimaru declared, his smirk gone from his face.  
  
'So this is the end.' Satsuki thought to herself as she turned her gaze to the sky. She found the full moon staring back at her. The full moon was there to accompany her in death, so she would not feel alone. She could feel the fear from earlier replaced by an eerie calm.  
  
There was a sharp pain on her throat, but it no longer mattered. Her entire surrounding seemed to dim as she began to feel cold and detached from her body.   
  
'Goodbye Hokage-sama.' A single tear escaped from her eye and slid across her face.  
  
Satsuki thought she was prepared for her fate, but the tranquility she desperately sought was shattered by her one final thought before the exploding pain shut down her mind.  
  
'I don't want to die.'  
  
---------------  
  
The boy ran as fast as he could, before stopping to catch his breath. Thinking that he was far enough away, he hid the scroll under a pile of rocks. Feeling that his mission was accomplished, he stood up, not noticing that the symbols surrounding the scroll lit up for a brief moment. The boy then looked around, and realized that he was lost.  
  
The boy was rescued later by Anbu ninjas from his village later, but he could no longer locate the place where he had hidden the scroll.  
  
---------------  
  
The Fourth Hokage knelt down in front of the body of Tohya Satsuki, and held her hand with his own. Her body was still warm despite the fact that it was a cold night. She had died not too long ago. It was apparent that she had not died because of her injuries, but instead she was killed by an enemy. Her throat had been slit, and her eyes were staring into nothing.  
  
"I cannot save you. I cannot save you after all." The Fourth kept mumbling to himself sadly. Staring at Satsuki's face, he used his fingers to close her eyelids. His fingers got wet from the girl's tears, and the Fourth stared at his fingers for a long while before clutching his fist.  
  
"I will never fail anyone anymore. I will protect the Konoha village, even if it means I have to sacrifice my life." The Fourth declared. He would fulfill this promise years later, when the demon fox threatened to destroy the village.  
  
---------------  
  
Chapter one - End  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
Tenten IS the main character, this is just a background story for my OC which has become too long to be called a prologue. (since my chapters are going to be short...) I know a lot of people hate OC, but please bear with me.  
  
My OC looks like this: geocities.123/yurikatkhm and replace 123 with com.  
  
Translation:  
  
Kagen no Tsuki - Lower Crescent Moon  
  
Tohya Satsuki - The Kanji I am thinking about for Tohya is 'Ten Nights' and 'May (month)' for Satsuki  
  
Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Summoning no Jutsu  
  
Fuuin - Seal 


	2. Encounter

Kagen no Tsuki  
  
Naruto  
  
By TKHM  
  
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto Masashi. But this fanfiction is my work and no one can cut/edit this work, although I don't know why anyone would want to do that. Oh, Tohya Satsuki is my original character.  
  
Chapter two - Encounter  
  
---------------  
  
"Now, all three of you, try the new jutsu! All right! Go! This is the springtime of youth!" Gai yelled out in his over-dramatic way.  
  
"Yes sir! Ooooooh!"  
  
"Yes, sensei."  
  
"...........hmm."  
  
Following her sensei's instructions, Tenten stood in front of a giant piece of log. She looked at her teammates, and noted that they were doing the same. When she was ready, she focused her chakra onto her legs and ran towards it as quickly as she could.  
  
'First, kick the log into the air as hard as I can.' Tenten mentally said to herself as crouched down as low as possible in front of the log. With a cry, she used her right leg to launch the log with all her might. The log did not travel too high, to Tenten's annoyance, but high enough for her to attempt the second part of the new jutsu.  
  
'Second, follow the log into the air and stay underneath its shadow.' Tenten continued as she leapt up to meet the log to do her Leaf Shadow Dance. However, She put too much force into her jump and ended up being on top of the airborne log instead of staying underneath it. But Tenten did not give up hope yet, as she prepared herself for the next step of the jutsu.  
  
'Third, secure myself onto the log, spin with the it and drive it into the ground.' Tenten grabbed the log with both her arms, and formed threads of chakra from her fingers. Then she used the threads to wrap herself together with the log. When she was done, she began spinning with the log while bringing it down at the same time. She had this feeling that she was not spinning fast enough, but it was as fast as she could manage.  
  
'Finally, disengage from the log right before impact...' Tenten cut off the chakra threads wrapped around her quickly, and jumped to the side, away from the log.  
  
When the log fell onto the ground, Tenten immediately knew that her attempt at the new jutsu was a complete failure. There was no dust cloud, no crater, and the only damage the log suffered was a scratch she had made accidentally when she withdrew herself from it. Tenten sighed, and took a look at her teammates' progress. She could not help but feel a little relieved that she was not the only one failing to make this Omote Renge move work.  
  
'Neji would probably be the first one to learn this technique. He is a genius afterall.' Tenten thought to herself as she watched her other teammates. 'Okay, I will just try again.'  
  
Hours later, Tenten stared at the giant log with hatred. None of the three students had mastered the move yet, and they were frustrated and exhausted. Gai's constant reminder of the 'springtime of youth' was starting to get on Tenten's nerves, even though it seemed to make Rock Lee even more eager to master the move. Neji just kept trying without responding to the speeches.  
  
'So this jutsu is difficult even for Neji too.' Tenten thought to herself as she tried her luck with the jutsu again. 'Why is this move so hard to master? It looks doable when sensei performed it. And what does 'letting youth free your mind' mean? That part of his instruction still confuses me.'  
  
Tenten was so submerged in her own thoughts that she forgot she was in the middle of attempting the Omoto Renge. She snapped out of her daze and cut off her chakra strings just as both she and the log crashed into the ground. It must have looked really silly, because she still had her arms around the log even after impact. Tenten released her grip on the log, and fell bonelessly onto the ground.  
  
'That hurts!' Tenten whimpered as she lay on her back in pain.  
  
"You are not supposed to hold onto the log." A voice stated bluntly. Tenten turned her head to her left, and saw Neji looking at her. "Can you continue?"  
  
'This is Neji's strange way to show that he cares.' Tenten thought to herself as she replied. "Yeah I can keep going. I am just a little tired." Neji nodded once, and turned back to his training. After picking herself off the ground, Tenten did the same.  
  
A dozen or so attempts later, Tenten was breathing heavily and was about to collapse onto the ground from exhaustion. She walked towards Neji and noted that Neji was not faring much better. She called out to him right when he was about to try the move again.  
  
"Neji, wait." Tenten called to Neji, who stopped and turned around. "This is not working at all, maybe we should ask sensei..." She was interrupted suddenly by Lee's loud shout of joy. Both she and Neji turned towards their third teammate.  
  
"Yes! I've finally mastered it. Whoohoo!" Rock lee started to dance in front of his log, which was cleanly splitted in half and embedded into the ground.  
  
'This move is so much more destructive than my Soushouryu.' Tenten gasped.  
  
"Calm down, Lee! Don't celebrate too much!"  
  
Gai-sensei then explained to Lee that the Omoto Renge was a forbidden technique, because of the strain placed on the user's muscles. Tenten listened to the speech for a while, before stealing a glance at Neji. The Hyuga boy's face was a mixture of disappointment, frustration, and disbelief. In Neji's mind, Lee was always inferior to him. It would take quite a while for him to accept the fact that Lee has mastered a technique sooner than he did.  
  
"Well, now that the Omote Renge is mastered, let's call it a day." Gai said cheerfully while giving his students a thumbs up. Then he turned to Lee. "Good job Lee! I'll treat you to lunch!"  
  
"Okay!" Lee replied, still excited from his success. Then the two ninjas started to walk away in glee from Neji and Tenten.  
  
'What? Wait a minute, Neji and I have not learned anything yet!' Tenten thought. She could not believe her eyes. Gai-sensei seemed to be content that Lee was the only one that had learned Omote Renge. She had always known that her teacher favored Lee, but this was too much.  
  
"Wait! Gai-sensei!" Tenten called out, and Gai turned around. "Can't you continue teaching us the Renge?"  
  
Gai looked thoughtful for a moment, before answering. "I don't think this move is right for you two. I'll think about something else tomorrow, but I think your Soushouryu should be able to do fine in the coming Chuunin Exam. " Then he started to walk away again.  
  
That was not the answer Tenten wanted to hear. This Omote Renge was the strongest jutsu Gai-sensei had ever taught! She turned back to Neji, as if to ask for his help, but Neji did not seem to be interested enough to convince his teacher to change his mind.  
  
Tenten sighed, and gave up on the idea of ever learning the Omote Renge.  
  
---------------  
  
Her training of the day finished, Tenten wandered around in the woods in the outskirts of the Konoha Village, not bothering to see where she was going. Her mind was too occupied by Lee's success at mastering the Omote Renge. That was quite a surprise, and she was sure that it was a harsh blow to Neji's pride. However, while she felt sorry for Neji, Neji's wounded pride was not the only thing bothering her.  
  
In Tenten's mind, her team was always one of the most competent amoung the Konoha Genin teams. First of all, there was Neji, someone that Tenten firmly believed to be the best Genin in Konoha. Equipped with the Hyuuga clan's Byakugan and Jyuuken, the genius was heads above the other Genins. Then there was Lee, who was the most hard working ninja she had ever known. Lee could not perform a single ninjutsu or genjutsu, yet he was excellent when it came to taijutsu. Lee had improved a lot since she had first seen him, thanks to Gai-sensei's unwavering support for his favorite student. She, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of her two team members. She was nowhere near as fast as Lee when it came to movement, but she had no trouble keeping up with Neji when they were training. However, while both Neji and Lee were close range fighters, she was a long range weapon specialist. Using the wide range of weapons provided inside her scrolls, she worked best outside melee range, eliminating her opponents from far away. Neji was always the best ninja in their group of three, with Lee and herself lagging behind, although they were decent fighters in their own rights.  
  
It did not take long for Tenten to realize that she was not keeping up with her other teammates. Neji was untouchable as always, and Lee, when he had his weights off, could move at such speed that her eyes had trouble following his movements. Not wanting to be the burden of her teammates, Tenten trained harder, throwing weapon after weapon at her targets with deadly accuracy until her arms were too sore to do anything.  
  
Yet it was not enough. Tenten could easily imagine what would happen if she had an one on one fight against either one of her teammates. Neji would neutralize her weapon attacks with his new self-taught Kaiten. Even though his Kaiten had not been perfected, and her bigger attacks might be able to hit him, she doubted that Neji would let her pull out a scroll before ending the match with a single chakra enhanced palm strike. Against Lee, her match would be more balanced if Lee had his weights on. It would be a game of cat and mouse, with Lee trying to get through the barrage of weapons and close the distance between them. If Gai-sensei let Lee take off his weights, however, she would be sent flying by Lee's speed attacks before she knew what had happened.  
  
And now Lee had Omote Renge along with his already impressive taijutsu skills, the gap between him and herself had widened even further. She was being left behind, and she could not do anything about it. She tried to convince herself to feel happy for her teammates, rather than letting her negative emotions erode her confidence. She tried to devote herself to become Neji's training partner, helping her teammate to advance even further. She tried to ignore the obvious favoritism of Gai-sensei towards Lee. But it was not working.  
  
The only thing that kept her going was the fact that Neji, Lee and Gai-sensei all recognized her as a competent team member, even though she could see that Neji was also secretly impressed with Lee's improvement. Neji still considered the bowlhead ninja to be a fool, but he had toned down his insults towards Lee in the past few months.  
  
There were many sleepless nights when Tenten questioned her own reason for becoming a ninja. Trying to become a legendary kunoichi like Tsunade-sama? That goal seemed farther and farther away as days passed. It was becoming an impossible dream, a cruel reminder of her own naivete when she had first become a Genin. She would act cheerful the next day, and Gai-sensei and Lee would simply not notice her swollen eyes. Neji suspected something, but even he could not understand why his training partner was sad, when she was always working so hard to make him improve. 'It was sweet of him to act nicer to me ever since.' Tenten thought while allowing a small smile to escape her lips. The change in Neji's attitude towards her was imperceptible to most people, but Tenten was an observant person.  
  
Not paying attention to her surroundings, Tenten did not notice pile of rocks in front of her legs before she tripped. She cried out in surprise and instinctively shifted her weight to the side to realign herself. And thanks to her training, she quickly did a midair flip to get back onto her feet. Her pink chinese blouse was not so lucky, however, somehow it had gotten caught on a stray branch, and the flip had made a large tear on the cloth across her back. Feeling frustrated at how her day had just gone from bad to worse, Tenten picked up the rocks from the pile one by one and started throwing them at the tree responsible for the destruction of her favorite outfit.  
  
There was something underneath the third rock she picked up.  
  
It was a small scroll covered with red symbols. Tenten picked it up curiously, and almost dropped it in surprise when she realized that the red symbols were made of blood. The symbols were obviously there as either a seal or a code, but it was still strange, because with the exception of summoning, Tenten had not seen anyone using blood for seals and techniques.  
  
Tenten blinked, before trying to open the scroll. There she was surprised again when a bright flash of red light blinded her momentarily. Frightened by the fact that she might have accidentally triggered unknown and dangerous seals, Tenten dropped the scroll onto the ground and ran home as fast as she could.  
  
Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day.  
  
---------------  
  
'Come.'  
  
Tenten's eyes snapped open when she heard a raspy female voice calling out to her. She turned to her clock on her bedside, it read 2:30am. Was that from her dream, or did she really hear that?  
  
'Help me.' Okay, that was definitely not from her dream.  
  
"Who's there?" Tenten slipped out from her bed, and went to her closet to arm herself with a kunai. She looked around her, but could not tell where the voice was coming from. Her hands started to shake as she realized that she was at the mercy of the intruder at this moment.  
  
'Come.' The voice repeated itself, before continuing in a pleading tone. 'Please, go to where you left my scroll.'  
  
'That stupid scroll! I knew it! It was the stupid scroll! Why did I have to open it?' Tenten mentally screamed at herself for her thoughtless action. 'Better do what she says. I don't want to know will happen if I do otherwise.' Tenten then changed into her battle outfit and armed herself with her vast collection of weapon scrolls, before walking out of her house.  
  
'Full moon...It's pretty....' Tenten found herself being mesmerized by the moon for a second, before heading for the forest.  
  
---------------  
  
Tenten picked up the scroll which she dropped earlier.  
  
'Okay, now what?' Tenten thought to herself. The voice had not appeared since she left her house. Was she hearing voices because of too much stress?  
  
'Thank you.' The raspy voice called directly behind Tenten, causing Tenten to shudder involuntarily. Forcing herself to fight down the creeps, she tried to turn around to face the owner of the voice like a proper ninja.  
  
She could not move her body.  
  
'What's going on here? Why can't I move?' Tenten panicked, while searching for the answer in her mind. She then remembered something that she had learned in the academy, a body binding jutsu which could immobilized the opponent. However it was one thing to hear about a jutsu from the academy, but another when it was used on her. The feeling of not being able to control her own body was very unpleasant. She felt so powerless.  
  
The unpleasant feeling was quickly overwhelmed by fear when Tenten felt herself being grabbed by someone from behind. Thoughts of being murdered brutally entered her mind, before a sharp pain indicated that the ambusher had bitten into her neck. Soon after she felt her blood, her life being slowly sucked away from her body.  
  
"Noooooooooo!" Tenten screamed at the top of her lungs, before a sudden wave of dizziness hit her. Her tears were flowing freely from her eyes at this point, but she no longer cared for the violation of the shinobi rule. 'I'm going to die. I'm going to die.' Tenten screamed in her mind before losing consciousness.  
  
---------------  
  
'I don't want to die.'  
  
......  
  
......  
  
Tenten opened her eyes, and was momentarily blinded by the sunlight.  
  
"Ah, you are finally awake. You've slept through the entire night."  
  
Tenten looked up, and saw an older girl sitting next to her under a tree. Tenten looked confused for a moment, pulled herself up into a sitting position, and realized that someone had put a blanket, no, a cloak over her when she was unconscious.  
  
"I put that on you so you wouldn't catch a cold sleeping on the ground like that." The girl explained, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for someone to be found unconscious in the middle of the forest. It was at that moment that Tenten noticed that something was amiss, even though her mind was still not completely awake yet.  
  
'Wait a minute, her voice....' Tenten thought to herself, noticing that the stranger's voice was very similar to the voice who led her into the forest last night.  
  
Tenten quickly climbed to her feet and leapt back from the other girl while reaching for a kunai inside her weapon pouch.  
  
"There's no need to be alarmed. I'm not going to harm you." The girl said while remaining in her sitting position, not surprised one bit by Tenten's reaction.  
  
Tenten calmed down a bit, and relaxed her stance slightly. She took a good look at the other girl, but could not recognize her. The other girl was wearing a long sleeve, turtleneck blouse on her upper body. She was also wearing a miniskirt, which in turn had a pair of tight protective shorts underneath it. And instead of the usual long pants of the other ninjas, she had a pair of stockings covering her legs. Everything was in black.  
  
'Is she a ninja? She doesn't really dress like one, and I've never seen anyone with lightblue hair and red eyes like that in this village. Maybe...' Tenten thought to herself, before turning to the girl. "You're not from this village, are you? What are you doing in here?" Tenten really tried to sound brave in front of a potential foe, but she could barely keep her voice steady, still shaken by the fact that she was knocked out by the person in front of her so easily, even though this girl seems to be only a couple years older.  
  
"I'm not a spy. I'm from this village." The girl replied. "I am Satsuki, an Anbu member."  
  
'Is she telling the truth?' Tenten questioned in her mind, noticing the absence of a tattoo normally found on Anbu soldiers. However, she was using the Konoha head protector to tie her hair into a ponytail. "I am Tenten, a Genin." Tenten answered.  
  
The girl nodded, then looked up, and an unreadable expression crossed her face. "How's Hokage-sama?"  
  
Tenten was a little surprised by the sudden question. "The Hokage? He's doing fine." 'What kind of question is that?' Tenten added in her mind.  
  
The girl who called herself Satsuki had a relieved look on her face. "So he's safe......" Then she looked at Tenten again and asked: "What happened to Orochimaru?"  
  
"Who's Orochimaru?" Tenten wondered out loud. She had never heard of that name before. Satsuki's eyes widened at her reply.  
  
"You don't know Orochimaru? He's one of the three legendary senins, and he abandoned the village after the Third Hokage had found him experi......" Satsuki caught herself before blurting out classified information known only to the Hokage and the Anbu. "It happened not too long ago."  
  
"I haven't heard of him." Tenten replied, a little troubled that Satsuki was hinting that the information was common knowledge. As far as she knew, none of her Genin friends knew anything about Orochimaru either. "Maybe you should ask my Jounin sensei, he should know." Tenten suggested.  
  
Satsuki looked confused for a moment, before her eyes started to widen as realization sank in. "How....how old is the Fourth right now?" Then she continued muttering quietly to herself. "How much time has passed?"  
  
"The Fourth? He died protecting this village from the demon fox twelve years ago." It was Tenten's turn to look confused. Noticing Satsuki's blank look, she changed her expression to one of suspicion. "Everyone in Konoha knows that."  
  
Satsuki did not notice Tenten's tone though, her mind was overwhelmed by the news that the Fourth Hokage had died. Fate had made a cruel joke out of her. What was the point of her soul binding technique succeeding when the the man she loved was dead? Feeling something warm inside her throat, Satsuki coughed, and blood spilt out from her mouth onto the ground.  
  
"Hey! Are you okay?" Tenten rushed to the older girl's side, momentarily forgetting that the other girl might be an enemy. She was by Satsuki side when she remembered how suspicious the older girl was. Tenten paused, blinked, before sighing and letting the other girl lean against her for support. Satsuki seemed to have noticed her inner battle in her awkward pause, and for the first time since Tenten met her, she smiled.  
  
"Do you want me to go get the medics?" Tenten asked. Satsuki shooked her head.  
  
"I have a.....condition on my body..." Satsuki began. "The medics wouldn't be able to help me." She paused, looked at Tenten, before continuing. "I had to do what I did to save myself."  
  
Tenten blinked, and ran her fingers on her neck wound. She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her. "But why me? How could you call me out from my house like that?"  
  
"It'd be fatal for the other person if it was anybody else, the scroll was meant to keep the blood donor alive." Satsuki explained, paused, before continuing: "I will have to keep getting blood from you to stay alive."  
  
Tenten almost pushed Satsuki away onto the ground at that moment, only the fact that the older girl was quite ill stopped her. "No way! There's no way you're doing that to me again. I don't even know if you are an enemy or not!" She shuddered when she remembered the creepy feeling of having her blood sucked out of her.  
  
"You won't help me?" Satsuki asked in a somewhat pitiful voice. Seeing Tenten's distrust, she continued: "I swear by the heavens that I am a ninja in Konoha and I will not do any harm to this village."  
  
'Should I help her? She said she would die if I don't let her. But I don't want to experience that again, it felt like I was dying! She looked so sick though. wait a minute, I don't even know her, what if she's a spy! But isn't it inhumane to leave her to die like this, whether she's an enemy or not? Is she telling the truth, or is she just trying to kill me? She would have killed me ten times over already if she wanted, maybe she just enjoys sucking blood out of people. Ugh, I should have never opened the stupid scroll in the first place!' Tenten thought to herself in confusion, unable to decide whether to help the older girl in front of her or not.  
  
"I can make a deal with you." Satsuki offered. "If you let me drink your blood every once in a while to sustain my body, I will teach you my techniques."  
  
That caught Tenten's attention. She was trying to catch up to her other teammates, and she might be able to do it if she could learn some new powerful moves. She tried to think through the situation logically, but her mind was filled with images of Lee doing Omote Renge and Neji doing Kaiten.  
  
"Okay." Tenten replied. She had a feeling that she should have thought about this offer more carefully, but she really wanted to get stronger.  
  
"Thank you." Satsuki let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, isn't this the time when you meet with your team?" Satsuki asked, remembering the daily routines of the village.  
  
"I am going to be late!" Tenten exclaimed. 'What am I going to do with her?'  
  
"You can just leave me here, I should be well enough to move around soon." Satsuki said. "You can meet me here at eight every night so I can teach you my techniques."  
  
"Okay, I have to go now." Tenten gently laid Satsuki onto the ground, before hurrying away.  
  
"Tenten." Satsuki called, and Tenten turned around. "Don't tell anyone about me." Tenten nodded and ran off. 'Why doesn't she want me to mention her to others? Is it safe to keep this a secret? She has made a vow of not harming this village though....'  
  
Satsuki waited until she could no longer feel Tenten's presence, and slowly climbed to her feet. She wiped the blood off her mouth with her fingers, and stared at the blood stain.  
  
'To think that I lost control of my blood like that, my body is definitely weakened.' She thought to herself. 'I'm sorry for dragging you into my troubles, Tenten, but I can't die yet.'  
  
"Orochimaru." She said the name in a dangerous voice. He was the one responsible for her loss. "I'll definitely kill you."  
  
She might have lost the Fourth Hokage forever, but she still had to get her revenge before leaving this world. But first, she had to move before the Anbu squard found her. With the Fourth Hokage dead, she no longer had the courage to face the Konoha villagers. Also, she had to find out how much time had passed since her incomplete death and the whereabouts of Orochimaru. Satsuki picked her cloak off the ground, and vanished.  
  
---------------  
  
"Tenten! You're late!" Gai called out with a good nature laugh when Tenten finally appeared. "Don't slack off now, the Chuunin exam is coming up soon!" Then he grinned and a sparkle could be seen on his teeth.  
  
"Sorry, sensei, I overslept." Tenten replied.  
  
"What happened to your pink blouse?" Gai asked, noticing Tenten was wearing a black version of her favorite outfit.  
  
"I ripped it accidentally."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Sensei, do you know someone named...." Satsuki thought for a moment, then decided against telling her teacher about Satsuki. "...hmm...nevermind. Let's begin."  
  
"Let's start the training." Gai said as he pointed at the dozen baskets filled with eggs behind him. "I'll start throwing eggs at you, and you can use any means to keep the eggs from hitting you, but you have to stay within this open field." Gai explained, then he held out his fist and yelled. "Goooo!!!"  
  
'I don't like the sound of this training at all.' Tenten thought to herself as she barely dodged an egg flying towards her like a arrow.  
  
The three students had different methods of dealing with the incoming projectiles.  
  
For Rock Lee, this exercise was all about speed and reflex. He was leaping and back-flipping all over the place, avoiding the eggs in a continuous aerobic dance. For the eggs that he could not avoid, he would simply kick them away. While some of the eggs got on his feet, they technically did not hit him, and Lee was able to keep the rest of his body clean from the eggs.  
  
For Neji, this exercise was a waste of time in front of his Jyuuken skills. Unlike Lee, Neji stayed in one place, and blew the eggs away one by one with his Jyuuken when they got a little too close. Because he was able to see every projectile with his Byakugan, he did not miss a single strike. Also, to prove that his defense was flawless, his entire body was clean, including his striking hands, because the chakra emitted from his palms was able to blow the splattered eggs away.  
  
Finally for Tenten, the eggs were moving practice targets. Having a dozen weapons in her hands, she leapt back as far away as she could from her teacher so she would have more time to react. Throwing weapons after weapons, she attempted to intercept the projectiles with her own. Tenten was successful in dealing with the eggs in the beginning, but soon after she began to have trouble because she had to resupply the weapons from her scrolls. The eggs were not waiting for her when she reached into her pouch, and she was forced to duck out of the way when an egg sailed pass her head. Evading the latest barrage of projectiles after getting the scroll, she leapt up, spinned the opened scroll around her, and prepared to summon more weapons to continue her defense.  
  
"You've taken too much time, Tenten!" Gai's voice called out.  
  
Splat.  
  
Surprised that an egg had hit the side of her head, Tenten lost her concentration and fell onto the ground with the scroll. To make matters even worse, when she tried to pull herself off the ground, she found her limps tied in a tangled mess with the scroll.  
  
"Tenten, that's quite a mess you've got there!" Gai laughed as he crouched next to his student to help her out of her predicament. Something caught his eye as he started to untie her arms from the scroll.  
  
"That's mean, Gai-sensei! My hair is a mess!" Tenten complained. Looking over to her other teammates, she gave out a sigh when she saw that they both did infinitely better than her. This exercise was another evidence of her inferiority compared to Neji and Lee.  
  
"What's that on the back of your hand?" Gai took Tenten's right hand and started examining it. "A seal?"  
  
Tenten took a look at the back of her right hand, and saw a red symbol. The symbol was a small crescent moon inside a kite-shaped border. One name appeared in her mind while she stared at the tattoo looking symbol. 'Satsuki.'  
  
She had to ask the older girl about this symbol tonight.  
  
---------------  
  
Chapter two - End  
  
Author's Notes:  
  
This story is going to focus on Team Gai, with Tenten as the main character.  
  
Also, I know that Tenten's move Soushouryu only appears in the anime, but her appearance in the manga is so pitiful that I choose to keep that move. (This move does not appear in the Naruto Character Data Book.)  
  
My OC looks like this: geocities.123/yurikatkhm and replace 123 with com.  
  
Translation:  
  
Omote Renge - Outer Lotus (I don't quite agree with Initial Lotus or Secondary Lotus. It's more like Outer/Inner for Omote/Ura.)  
  
Soushouryu - Twin Rising Dragon 


End file.
